131 Responses to OPEN THREAD

  1. Jeff Waters says:

    Not wise! BBC director general compares football pundit Alan Hansen to Eric and Ernie
    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2056373/Not-wise-BBC-director-general-compares-football-pundit-Alan-Hansen-Eric-Ernie.html#ixzz1cXMsBUz8
    Not sure you can really compare a dour football commentator who seems to talk about nothing but ‘shocking defending’ with Britain’s most loved ever comedy duo…
    Jeff

       1 likes

    • Grant says:

      If Mark Thompson can’t tell the difference, he is even more stupid than I thought.  Alan Hansen is a pain in the backside.

         2 likes

    • Jeremy Clarke says:

      I see Thompson describes Alan Hansen as an “artist”. The DG is clearly not of this world.

      Lionel Messi is an artist, for sure. Hansen may have been an elegant central defender but, at the end of the day (Brian), he was a stopper, not a creator.

      Mind you, any old tat passes for art these days…

         1 likes

    • ap-w says:

      on the subejct of Match of the Day, Des Lynam made a very valid criticism about the BBC’s coverage in last Saturday’s telepgraph. Nowadays as many big matches are on a Sunday as a Saturday, but Lineker and Hansen (who the BBC regard as their leading presenters) inflexibly only appear on a Saturday. Obviously for that money it’s too much to expect them to inconvenience themselves on a Sunday evening.

         1 likes

      • Jeff Waters says:

        The BBC are big on diversity.  So rather than having the same 5 faces appear week in, week out on MOTD, they should invite in guest commentators each week. 

        You’d get a wider range of views, and there are plenty of ex-footballers and newspaper journalists who’d be happy to share their wit and wisdom for less than Hansen’s 40 grand!

        And I think it would be great if they returned to the days when there was proper debate between the commentators, a la Jimmy Hill.

        Jeff

           1 likes

        • Louis Robinson says:

          Jeff, “diversity” to the BBC is only skin deep. There is NO diversity of viewpoint.

             1 likes

        • Grant says:

          Jeff,
          Maybe one of the guests should be an ordinary fan so we can get the viewpoint from the terraces.  I am sure the BBC would want us to hear what the plebs think. 

             1 likes

          • john says:

            Grant, excellent idea.
            Let’s face it, as there isn’t a single fan in Christendom with a lower IQ than Anton Ferdinand, guests could shove East Enders off the top of the BBC’s ratings.

               1 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      I think it’s great that this guy makes 50% more than Paxman, and for doing a whole lot less.  DQF indeed.

         1 likes

  2. tomfiglio says:

    The Bishop Hill climate blog has a transcript of a lecture given by Matt Ridley at the RSA in Endinburgh. Here’s a quote:  
     
    “To stand up and say, within a university or within the BBC, that you do not think global warming is dangerous gets you the sort of reaction that standing up in the Vatican and saying you don’t think God is good would get. Believe me, I have tried it.”  
     
    It’s becoming increasingly obvious to everyone in the outside world that the BBC is openly partisan on this issue, and seems proud of the fact. The arrogant, self-regarding drones  who work there clearly believe that the BBC’s role is to propagate their views. Their disdain for the rest of us is obvious, as is the fact that none of them are as clever as they think they are.

       1 likes

  3. Sceptical Steve says:

    On this morning’s 5 Live Breakfast, Andy Verity was hosting a discussion about changes to public sector pensions.

    (As we all know, the BBC paid no attention in the late 1990s when Brown destroyed private pensions but, strangely, public sector pensions are much more important.)

    Anyhow, highlight of the discussion was Verity illustrating the effect of proposed cuts in the pension scheme by saying that pensioners who has expected “60ths” (per year of service) might only get “50ths”.
    When the business correspondent can’t understand that 50ths are bigger than 60ths, you have to wonder how  they get appointed in the first place.

    I continued listening for the following hour on my way to work and there was no correction, so I’m left to assume that they are all as thick as each other!

       2 likes

    • Grant says:

      Sceptical Steve,
      The only Beeboid who understands anything about economics, finance, business, taxation etc. is Paul Lewis on R4 Moneybox.  All the rest, Flanders, Peston etc. are just journalists posing as experts.

         1 likes

      • Grant says:

        PS  Steve,
        On the other hand , if Beeboids would be delighted to see their own pensions move to a  1/80 th scheme, so would I   !!!!! 

           1 likes

  4. ap-w says:

    Mr Thompson was asked if it was true that Mr Hansen was paid ₤1.5million a year for his work at the BBC.
    He said: ‘I am not familiar with that particular artist’s fees and it is not our policy to talk about artist fees so even if I did know I wouldn’t answer, even hypothetically.’

    Skipping lightly over the absurd luvvie-dom of referring to Alan Hansen as an “artist” (is Steve Claridge also an “artist”?), and the weaselly concept of how one answers a direct specific question “hypothetically”, can you imagine the furore there would be on the Today programme if a government minister appeared and said that he didn’t know how much someone he employed wasn’t paid, and that even if he knew he wouldn’t say?

       1 likes

    • Louis Robinson says:

      The reason for keeping “artist’s” fees confidential is that licence payers would be shocked at their scale. The numbers are even kept secret from staff members for fear of a revolt. A secretary, who saw a contract, once told me that the presenter of the  show she worked on earned TWICE as much in ONE show as she did in TWO years. Who was he? You wouldn’t know his name – just another forgotten “star”.

      I long for the days when Simon Dee demanded £1m for a series of talk shows and Bill Cotton Jr (head of Light Entertainment) told him to go jump in the lake – virtually ending his career. 

         1 likes

      • Grant says:

        Louis,
        The other point is that all these “artists”  fees are paid through their own companies to avoid tax by paying the lower rates of corporation tax. 
        “BEEBOIDS IN TAX AVOIDANCE SCAMS ”    !!!!!!!

           1 likes

    • jarwill101 says:

        I don’t know about Hansen being an ‘artist’, but Mark Thompson is an Abstract Expressionist at the top of his evasive, slippery game. I doubt if he could give a straight answer if you asked him to swear on the Koran, & that’s a tome he has a lot of time for. Perhaps he needs to be fracked, & relieved of all the hallucinogenic gases coursing around his state-suckled pumpkin of a head. Along with the entire herd of beeboids at News/Current Affairs. Now that’s what I call constructive deflation.

         1 likes

      • cjhartnett says:

        A bellowing quack of a description of our state suckled pumpkinhead!
        Clearly you`re in a purple phase of language artistry sir!
        Was near Bragg Mansions today and doffed my flat cap in honour of old B.Q!

           1 likes

      • Grant says:

        jarwill,
        Great post !!!!

           1 likes

  5. Jeff Waters says:

    Fracking tests near Blackpool ‘likely cause’ of tremors – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-15550458

    That the BBC quotes an environmental group, but does not include any pro-fracking quotes.

    Telegraph columnist James Delingpole could have pointed them in the direction of experts who could have talked about the economic benefits of fracking, and how the environmental risks are negligible:

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100111487
    /how-many-died-in-the-great-blackpool-earthquake-of-11/

    Fracking could be the best thing to happen to the UK economy since North Sea oil.  There’s too much at stake the let the green lobby throw a spanner in the works!

    Jeff

       1 likes

    • Natsman says:

      It’s time, I think, we all got cracking

      and liberated gas by fracking

      The side effects of Blackpool shaking

      are, perhaps, a risk worth taking

      if it saves us loads of shekels

      it might be worth a quake in Eccles

      rather that than turbine giants

      kowtowing to EU compliance

      or pleasing Huhne (the utter dickhead)

      who really thinks that carbon’s wicked

      It’s not cheap energy that’s bad

      It’s the effin’ greens that have gone mad

      If they had their stupid way

      we’d live in caves and freeze all day.

      So come on Huhney, you blinkered ass

      Locate your brain and give us gas.

       

      By an Old Goat

         1 likes

    • Martin says:

      Radio 5 keep using the term ‘controversial’.

      Really I don’t think it is. Only lefties at the BBC/Guardian think it is.

         1 likes

      • Roland Deschain says:

        Martin, surely you know by now that in Beebland, controversial means “we don’t like it”?

           1 likes

        • Roy Stirred-Oyster says:

          Indeed – in the same way that “Leading/Respected charity” means that the beeb approves

             1 likes

    • grangebank says:

      Surely the fracking company can do what it wants on their own patch , according to the “activists” who went down to Dale Farm to make trouble ?

         1 likes

    • Alfie Pacino says:

      Just caught this non-story on the six o’clock news. Fracking nonsense.

         1 likes

  6. George R says:

    ‘Daily Mail’ Comment:

    “Auntie’s doomsayers”:  
     
     
    “True, the upward trend remains  uncertain – particularly in light of the turmoil in Greece. And Britain’s 0.5 per cent growth over the past three months was hardly sensational.  
     
    “But the Mail warmly congratulates the Chancellor on a highly respectable achievement in  these toughest of times.  
     
    “Wasn’t it typical of the BBC, however, that for days its reporters had been  predicting dismal figures? Couldn’t you sense their disappointment when their prophesies of doom proved unfounded?  
     
    “And can’t you just imagine how they would have written off George Osborne if they’d been right?”  
     
     
    (Scroll down)  
     
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2056364/Greece-referendum-Greek-brinkmanship-destroy-Europe.html

       1 likes

  7. Roland Deschain says:

    My, my.  Richard Black seems to be very defensive.  I’ll leave it to those with greater expertise to explain why he’s talking crap.

    However I see Bishop Hill at comment 10 has already had a go at him.

       1 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      aqnd he has added a further comment,  directly challenging Black to show anyone who ever used the term “hide the decline” in the way Black says.

      Either Black is stupid,  or he is lying.

      Or both ?

         1 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Black is blinded by faith here.  Unlike Mark Mardell, I can’t read people’s hearts and so don’t actually know whether or not he’s lying about what “hide the decline” actually refers to or if he simply doesn’t understand.  
         
        My money is on the latter, as his beliefs on all of this are guided by shamans like Michael Mann – whose expertise on tree ring data somehow didn’t prevent the IPCC from removing those troublesome facts from the proxy record.  
         
        If I was Barnabus, I too would preach the words of Christ according to what Paul told me.

           1 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      He’s being well and truly filleted in the comments.  I predict early closure.

         1 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        I’m surprised none of those comments have been “referred to a moderator” yet.  Usually there are a few dedicated supporters who flag the more troubleseome ones.

           1 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      I’ve never seen such a chorus of derision on Mr Black’s blog!  Even the defenders of the indefensible seem to be more or less lost for words!

      Mr Black has replied but seems to have dug himself a deeper hole.

         1 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        Best comment so far, from “MangoChutneyUKOK”


        Hang on!

        We’ve all got it wrong.

        “Hide the decline” refers to the decline in objective journalism at the BBC

        Maybe the moderators have all gone on strike?  The criticism of Black is entirely accurate, so they do have their work cut out for them.  I’m still amazed that the environmentals haven’t flagged them all yet.  Someone else even mentioned Michael Mann’s influence on him.

        Black seems to have beclowned himself with that reply where he says he’s only using “hide the decline” in the way that a few other people had misinterpreted it.  Which is obviously not what he was doing.

           1 likes

  8. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Get out the tiny violins, folks:


    DQF movers offered less to relocate


    A scaled down relocation package offered to staff like those ear-marked to move out of Birmingham falls well short of the deal previously offered to colleagues moving from London to Salford.


    Under the new DQF terms there will be no guaranteed house purchase. In the main relocations to Salford staff were told that if they owned their home and agreed to sell, a BBC contractor would guarantee to buy their house for up to 85% of the market value.

    I’m still finding it hard to believe that the BBC originally guaranteed home sales, even at 85%, to anyone in the current climate.  Do the mandarins not pay attention to their own news reports about the housing market? Still, anyone who has to up stakes and move the family because the company says so will have at least a little sympathy here. And I’ll grant that it sucks to have to sell house in the current climate (unless one lives in the Southeast). Apparently, the new reductions are even more cruel:


    Under DQF, the remote location allowance – which is paid to people who don’t want to sell their house straight away – will be a maximum of £1,900 per month for one year. This allowance is reduced from the former two years.

    “Who don’t want to sell their house straight away?”  For what reason?  I know mortgages have risen above wages over the last few years, but £1900 per month is like twice the national average.  Do the Birmingham Beeboids all live in mansions?

    Poor David Gregory will be one of those forced out of The Mailbox.  Or maybe I shouldn’t be so sympathetic, as if he’s smart he’ll take the cash and at the same time rent out his current home after the move.  That ought to ease the pain of those cold Salford nights.

       1 likes

  9. D B says:

    The BBC London edition of Inside Out this week included a report on the St Paul’s camp which was basically 8 minutes of PR on behalf of the protesters (on YouTube here).  
     
    Part of the film shows a new arrival to the camp, Tina Louise, setting up her tent.  
     
    “I’m a 49 year-old woman. I don’t often bunk in a tent with a stranger in the streets of London. This is the most abstract thing I think I’ve possibly ever done. When I sleep in a tent I represent 50 people who would do that if they could escape the fact that their trapped in mortgages. I don’t need to sleep in a street in London. I’m not a professional protester. I just care about the future.”  
     
    A voiceover from reporter Richard Adams then inform us: “Like hundreds of others, Tina, a grandmother from Blackpool, felt compelled to join the occupation at St Paul’s cathedral.”  
     
    Grandmother Tina’s Linekedin profile states that she’s a freelance Marketing & Communications Consultant. She’s also the campaign founder for Arms Against War,  “a campaign that seeks to unify all the anti-war/peace groups and individuals who share a mutual desire for an end to the war in Iraq, into a visual mass.” (Visual mass?) She may not be a “professional protester”, but she’s far from being a novice either.  
     
    The next interviewee is a young woman with her toddler (aww, bless) who tells us she’s at the protest because she believes in a fairer society. The caption gives her name as Lucy Aitken-Read. A quick Google reveals that she’s Oxfam’s Community and Activist Campaigner for London and the South East. She was very happy with the BBC’s film when she saw it.  
     
    So just a grandmother from Blackpool and young mother with her child. One just happens to be a veteran anti-war campaigner, the other a professional activist. Not that the BBC tells us this.  
     
    (Worth watching the video just to see the loving look on reporter Richard Adams’ face as he talks to a young dreadlocked dude @4mins.)

       1 likes

    • D B says:

      Above should read: “escape the fact that they’re trapped in mortgages” – hasty transcribing.

         1 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Damn, for a minute there I thought you were talking about Tina Louise from Gilligan’s Island.

      But is this other one actually saying that it’s only the burden of home ownership that’s preventing others from coming down and permanently squatting in front of St. Paul’s?  WTF?

         1 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      Good work, D B.  But why am I not in the least surprised to find the interviewees not quite as they’re painted(?)

         1 likes

    • Grant says:

      I love Tina  ” I don’t often bunk in a tent with a stranger “.   Come on Tina, don’t be coy, how often is “often”, do tell  !!!!

         1 likes

    • John Horne Tooke says:

      Now that is propaganda, pure and simple. Dispicable.

         1 likes

  10. D B says:

    Heh. I can’t lie – I was distracted by some of the photos of her that come up when you Google the name.

       1 likes

    • D B says:

      But is this other one actually saying that it’s only the burden of home ownership that’s preventing others from coming down and permanently squatting in front of St. Paul’s? WTF? 
       
      WTF indeed.

         1 likes

  11. David Preiser (USA) says:

    The BBC’s reporting on the “Robin Hood tax” and the ArchBeard’s promotion of it is full of editorial ornaments.  Bankers’ bonuses “continue to soar”, while this new move would put “a tiny tax” on financial transactions.

    No mention whatsoever that the financial crisis was actually driven by government and ideology rather than greedy cheating bankers.

       1 likes

  12. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC and how it rams ‘Islam’ down our throats every chance it gets.

    Watch the following video taken from the bBCs website and see if you can notice something about how the Presenter is dressed???
    Kings Cliffe nuclear waste fight goes to High Court

       1 likes

  13. Hugh says:

    Thought I’d have a listen to BBC 6 Music this morning and found I was listening to the Lauren Laverne show. Not knowing anything about her, I did what most people would do and Wiki’d her. This is what I found.  
     
    Laverne is a supporter of the Labour Party, famously referring to Geri Halliwell as “Tory scum” for her support for the Conservatives in the 1997 general election.[14] Laverne’s mother, Cecilia Gofton, was elected a councillor for the Pallion ward in the City of Sunderland in 2006, and sought nomination as Labour candidate in 2008 in the Sunderland Central constituency but was defeated by Julie Elliott, who went on to win the seat for Labour in the 2010 general election.[15]  
     
    Dear God, they’re everywhere.

       1 likes

    • Umbongo says:

      “Dear God, they’re everywhere”

      Er no . .  they’re conspicuously absent from the wealth-creating section of the community.

         1 likes

  14. D B says:

    Even Huffpo is finally reporting the serious problems at Zuccotti Park:

    There have been multiple incidents of assault, drug dealing and drug use, rape and attempted rape, according to conversations with numerous protesters. And the problem, they say, is getting worse.

    (And there’s more at Big Govt)

    But Laura Trevelyan reports none of this in her latest article. She does mention “complaints of protesters urinating and defecating in the streets” (which is something, I guess) but that’s it. It’s almost as if the BBC is trying to censor negative aspects of the Occupy movement. They wouldn’t do that, would they?

       1 likes

    • D B says:

      Oh I see now. According to Comrade Kite #ows is now a brand that leaders can’t ignore. Clealry the BBC doesn’t want to tarnish the brand.

         1 likes

      • Reed says:

        So it has a brand name, wealthy backers, celebrity sponsors, a media profile and is lobbying for government concessions in it’s own interests. Sounds like a corporation to me.

        Anyone up for a protest against the protest?

           1 likes

  15. Teddy Bear says:

    After seeing this article from AP on Yahoo Mid-East Headlines, I wondered how long it would take the BBC to get around to reporting it – if at all. Activists: Deadly attacks in Homs kill at least 20BEIRUT (AP) — Machine-gun fire and explosions erupted inside a Syrian city at the heart of the country’s uprising Wednesday as activists reported two grisly attacks that killed at least 20 people in the past 24 hours. The Syrian opposition’s two main activist groups said gunmen attacked factory workers in the village of Houla on Wednesday, killing 11 people. Majd Amer, an activist in Homs, said some of the men were decapitated and others shot in the head, their hands tied behind their backs. Amateur videos posted online showed the men, bound and gagged, lying on the ground. The killing spree amounted to a “massacre,” said the activist groups, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees activist network. The wave of violence apparently started late Tuesday.

    Apoparently, it wasn’t that important to the BBC as their lead story for the Mid-East webpage has been an even more horrific Israeli settlements condemned by European states – Western countries have criticised an Israeli decision to accelerate settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

    Needless to say there’s nothing in that article to clarify the fact that the Palestinians who still denying the right of Israel to remain as a Jewish state, and trying to negotiate for a peaceful settlement which would give them a finite territory, instead tried to use the UN as the medium to achieve their goals. So Israel continues to build.
    I’ve no doubt the West is aware of the real issues surrounding this conflict, but each prefers to make points with the Islamic world by continuing to vilify Israel for the lack of peace in this area, with the BBC as their loyal mouthpiece.

    I wonder how the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights feel about the lack of attention the BBC are giving to this matter.
    Anyway about 10 minutes ago the BBC came out with this article about Syria Syria accepts Arab League peace plan after Cairo talks
    But no mention of the Syrians killed today in this article. Unlike this article from AFP which tells both parts of the story. Syria regime ‘fully accepts’ Arab peace plan

    I wonder what determination the ‘impartiality’ review for the BBC coverage of Arab Spring would come out with on this – nah, not really, I can already guess.

       1 likes

    • Teddy Bear says:

      Finally the BBC produces an article to tell of the deaths today in Syria.  
      The only thing is, much like they do when reporting on conflicts not far away from here, where attacks on Israel are sidelined in favour of those on Palestinians, the slaughter of the factory workers has been relegated to the latter part of the article, with those on Assad’s forces made the headline.  
      Syria army deserters ‘kill 15 security personnel’  
      Fifteen members of the Syrian security forces and pro-government gunmen have been killed by army defectors, according to a UK-based rights group.  
      The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said seven soldiers died when a bomb hit an army convoy in Hama province.  
      Eight security personnel and loyalist gunmen were killed in a second attack in the same area, it added.

      Any doubt who the BBC are trying to impress with their partisanship?
      Only lower down are we told  
      Peace plan  
      An Observatory official said the central cities of Homs and Hama were being surrounded by tanks, and deserters have been trying to create a “safe passage” for civilians to get out for medical treatment and for food to get in.  
      The attacks came after gunmen stormed a factory in Homs, according to activists. They said 11 factory workers were killed in what appeared to be a brutal attack in the Houla district on Wednesday. Amateur video showed the bodies, bound and gagged, lying on the floor.  
      Meanwhile, security forces shot dead eight civilians in several Homs neighbourhoods, the Observatory said.

         1 likes

      • Teddy Bear says:

        My surprise today opening Yahoo and seeing the main BBC Mid-East Headliner Syria unrest: Tanks ‘open fire’ in Homs.
        So after pinching myself to check I was not dreaming, I thought there’s got to be something more to this. 
        I looked at the AP newsfeed for Yahoo and saw this headline Syrian tanks fire despite Arab League deal; 4 dead

        While when reading the BBC article one eventually gets the information that Syria has defied the previous day’s Arab League deal, and that people were killed by these ‘Firing Tanks’, do you think the headline used could have been clearer bearing in mind the main elements of this story?

        I also wondered how the Arab League deal will modify future BBC reporting on events in Syria. After all, we know the BBC priority is to appease the one it considers the most important to its own agenda, regardless of merit to the values of our society.

        So long as the licence fee is compulsory, this priority sure ain’t to those paying for it.

           1 likes

  16. Paddy says:

    Fracking irritating fracking hippy scum
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-15550458

    If in doubt and you are losing the scientific moral an finical market turn to the four horsemen of the Ecoloon apocalypse

    Greenpeace
    Friends of the Earth
    The world wildlife fund
    Frack off

    Non of these ‘activists are experts’
    An ology is as rare as a bar of soap outside saint paul’s

    Why does auntie insist on giving these Luddite deluded misanthropists airtime.

    And why the world wildlife fund? You may as well ask childline or the Macmillan nurses for their opinion

       1 likes

  17. Martin says:

    On what planet do beeboids live? On the 6pm news Hugh Pym was spouting crap about how the EU plan “saved the Euro”. Really, does anyone remember any city slickers telling us that the Euro was safe?

    I seem to remember that the general view was the Greek Euro bailout had simply delayed the day Greece would crash out of the Euro and that the Euro would have to lose other Countries.

    How thick does the BBC think we are? Just pathetic shit reporting from the BBC.

       1 likes

    • Grant says:

      Martin,
      Alistair Darling was on Sky interviewed by Jeff Randall.  I have never seen Darling so animated and slagging off the EU for not dealing with this over a year ago.
      Mind you he did get a plug in about Gordon the Moron and implied that Obama would save us all ! 

         1 likes

      • cjhartnett says:

        So did I.
        Randall is the epitome of good and polite journalism…even though he has been proved entirely right re Greece and Brown/Darlings maladministration, he is courteous and doesn`t treat guests as the Beeb does.
        I only wish he did at times…his Telegraph articles of old nail the likes of Darling and the Eurozone.
        Still you`d not know it to watch his programme.
        How come that the Right are so professional whereas the Lefties seem to think that their virtues imply that anyone opposing them are evil scum and to be hounded into compliance?
        Only wish that they`d fight back sometimes! Letting Darling get away with his tropes re Gordon Brown etc stuck in my craw!

           1 likes

        • Grant says:

          cj,
          Yes, if only the Beeboids had the good manners to be as polite to their enemies in the Tory party as Jeff was to Alistair Darling, we might start to view them as almost professional, instead of third rate, amateur, teenage scribblers.

             1 likes

  18. David Preiser (USA) says:

    In my report from Occupy Wall Street in NYC, I mentioned that they were getting media coaching from actual members of the MSM, including the NY Times and NPR. Now here’s more proof.  MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan, and Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi, plus more, including a searchable databse of the OWS emails.

       1 likes

    • D B says:

      Big Government’s Occupy  rap sheet is good too. Anti-semitism, sexual assaults etc. Plus job losses:

      Twenty-one restaurant workers lost their jobs last week because of the Occupy Wall Street protests, the cafe owner said Tuesday.
      Marc Epstein, owner of the Milk Street Cafe at 40 Wall St., said he had no choice but to let nearly a quarter of his staff go last Friday after he saw his sales drop by 30 percent in the six weeks since the protests started.

         1 likes

  19. John Anderson says:

    Richard Black’s totally false article on “hide the decline” is getting a shellacking from commenters.  A real mauling.  He completely misrepresented what “Hide the decline” refers to.

    And carried on pushing the Prof Muller / Berkeley (BEST) paper,  which was not peer-reviewed and has been strongly attacked already on ethical grounds as well as statistical grounds.

    One of the most vivid descriptions of what “Hide the decline” really means in the ClimateGate debate was by Prof Muller himself.   And in his presentation he effectively accused the Warmist team – the Hockey Stick gand – of scirentific fraud,  saying he will never read any of their papers again.

    Strange that Black doesn’t know all that background ?  Or deliberate evasions by Black ?

       1 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      Here is the link to Black’s truly terrible article :

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15538845

      He should have the grace to take the whole article down,  and apologise.

      Fat chance.

         1 likes

    • Grant says:

      John,
      Remember Black has no background in science so doesn’t have the intellectual equipment to assess the validity of academic research.
      At the end of the day, he is merely a journalist with all the ignorance implied by that.

         1 likes

      • John Anderson says:

        Under all the pressure in the comments,  Black has added a weaselly “apology” to his article.

        He should have withdrawn the article entirely.

           1 likes

  20. Martin says:

    Newsnight have just done it again, that twat Essler and the lefty moron Mason just claimed that last week the Euro was saved.

    No it wasn’t, all the experts simply said they’d delayed the inevitable, of course Greece is screwed, so it Italy, Spain, Portugal and so on.

    We all know it, the markets know it. Just we were doomed when we tried to stay in the ERM in the 90’s the Euro is stuffed.

    The poor old BBC though, they can’t accept that their pet project is screwed, no one wants to piss money away on this project, the Chinese don’t even want to know, I heard some guy from the city saying today that the 1 TRILLION Euros they are looking to use isn’t big enough!!!

    It’s a joke, these morons in Europe should be in jail, they like the BBC are not fit to wipe their own arses.

       1 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      All those Continental meatheads were rioting and destroying property when real austerity hadn’t even happened yet.  Just wait until the sh!t really hits the fan, when public services grind to a halt.

         1 likes

      • Martin says:

        Wow life must be a bitch retiring at 49 in Greece on full pay.

           0 likes

        • David Preiser (USA) says:

          Oboe players and hairdressers get full whack at 50, as they are hazardous professions.  Madness.

             0 likes

        • Grant says:

          Martin,
          It is doubtful if most Greeks work in the first place in any real sense. Why we are paying to prop up these wasters is a mystery.

             0 likes

  21. Martin says:

    Just incredible, whilst Mason is spouting crap about the brothers rioting and the 1930’s and how the Euro must be saved, Sky News have Adam Bolton and some economic expert basically saying things look like it’s up for Greece as if they get 50% of their debt written off, the Spanish, Irish and Italians will also want the same deal, if Greece leaves the Euro the banks are stuffed.

    How Mason can compare the rioting left wing scum to the protests in the 1930’s (no iPads, or Apple laptops then) to the middle class twats today is beyond me.

    Must be that white powder at the BBC.

       0 likes

    • Reed says:

      If you want decent analysis, you need to go anywhere but the BBC. They’re too interested in finding a unique angle from which to report these major events, rather than just getting to the crux of the situation. Style over substance.

         0 likes

    • Grant says:

      Martin,
      Beeboids like to compare the current situation with the Wall Street crash and the 1930s , yet again demonstating their ignorance of history and the current situation.

         0 likes

  22. Jeff Waters says:

    I thought some of Gavin Esler’s questions to REM showed political bias, such as his ‘This is a good time for politics, isn’t it?’ (that might not be his exact words), a reference to Obama’s presidency. 

    Jeff

       0 likes

    • Martin says:

      Why the BBC thinks people give a shit what fading pop stars thinks is beyond me.

         0 likes

      • Reed says:

        BBC interviewers love to give a platform to the views of pop stars, actors and comedians as they tend to echo their own sentiments on most issues, especially when it comes to party politics.

           0 likes

        • Grant says:

          Reed,
          And these people are some of the few Beeboids can find who are even thicker than they are !

             0 likes

          • Reed says:

            Absolutely, Grant.
            Unfortunately, this predilection for giving ignorant ‘slebs’ free reign to hold court on any topic they feel is worthy of their support is not restricted to the BBC. I just saw the financial and economic heavy weight Bill Nighy taking on someone from the Taxpayers Alliance on Channel 4 News on the subject of a ‘Robin Hood Tax’. Of course, ‘Actor and Campaigner’ Bill is heavily in favour, even though he admitted during the debate that ‘it’s very complicated and I don’t understand it’. Question to Channel 4 News – why give a platform to an individual who confesses to be ignorant of the subject being discussed?

               0 likes

  23. My Site (click to edit) says:

    Did anyone see Gavin Estler interviewing REM on Newshite last night?

    “You do still support Obama though don’t you?”
    “and you’ll be backing him at the next election yes?”

    The Londonistan local news – after reporting how a small restaurant was losing 40% of it’s trade due to the protestors in Finsbury Park – told us that “there are mixed feelings among the public”, before showing three (totally random) people who wholeheartedly supported the whinging work-shy tossers.  

       0 likes

    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      Just noticed, I’m late again with the newsnight comments.

         0 likes

    • Roland Deschain says:

      The BBC definition of “mixed feelings”:  997 people said they didn’t like it, 3 said they did – now here’s a cross-section of views.

         0 likes

      • My Site (click to edit) says:

        I shall have to add ‘mixed feelings’ to the list of BBC semnatic maths terms that got 100:1 against on the 0:10 video article in the Graun as ‘readers split’.

           0 likes

    • cjhartnett says:

      Certainly did!
      REM have done some good music over the years, but the fawning poodle that was Gavin Esler presumably sniffs stardust until his boy comes back from the Bush Market.
      Desperate oiling…could Barak be even greater than he is was the gist of all he “asked”…and isn`t it grand to prevent people getting into St Pauls was the other facet!
      Any chance of these twerps getting their arses down to the O2 Arena so the likes of REM can`t get to play….and why not liberate all their merchandise made from those sweatshops in the Third World they like to play concerts for.
      Asking superannuated popstars what they think about politics?…bloody Bono and Geldof will be going to hell like George Harrison for getting this one going!

         0 likes

  24. Gerald says:

    Extremely suspicious item on Today today before 7 a.m.

    It was part of a series on youth unemployment. The young lady, somehow identified / selected by the BBC to be today’s subject seemed extremely knowledgeable about the former Educational Maintenance Allowance and the devastating effect its non-availability now was having on her going to college.

    She had left school at 16 and was now a NEET. But that of course means that her parents no longer qualify for “Child Allowance” nor child tax credits if their income is below prescribed limits, yet strangely the BBC only mention the EMA aspect.

    One might think that there was some sort of agenda being driven!

       0 likes

    • sue says:

      Especially as gave the distinct impression that she hadn’t intended to go to college in any case. (Didn’t she say that when she was at school she’d assumed it would be ‘easy to walk into a job’ straight from school? )

      As for not being able to attend college without the £35 EMA ‘for getting to college and lunches and that” as her parents couldn’t afford that, she then said they did give her money but she wanted money of her own, that she had earned herself.

         0 likes

    • My Site (click to edit) says:

      Strange how the BBC never mention mass-immigration when discussing reasons for youth unemployment.

      What’s that huge grey animal with the long trunk that’s sitting in the corner?

         0 likes

  25. deegee says:

    Has the BBC changed it’s anti Israel boilerplateAlmost 500,000 Jews live in settlements on occupied territory. The settlements are illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

    Does this mean that the BBC is openly signing on to the Fatah position that the new Palestinian State has to be ethnic cleansed of all Jews? Does this mean that the BBC has openly signed on to the Fatah position that the borders of the new state must be the 1948 cease fire lines?

       0 likes

    • Biodegradable says:

      I noted some time ago that the BBC used to use “disputed” but that has recently changed to “occupied”.

      Now it’s only Israel that “disputes” the claim that Jerusalem is “illegally occupied”.

         0 likes

  26. Bupendra Bhakta says:

    Gameshow Nikk has turned his programme (and his 36,000 listeners) over to anyone with a ‘Glasto’ tent and a slogan they once saw on a Unison poster on a DEMO !!!!!.

    One embarrassment with an iphone 4 was asked, ‘So wo’wood yoo change if you were Prime Minister?’.

    This was a question too much for the ewai4 who said,

    ‘Ooh that’s a tricky one, erm… I dunno, um… I agree with the previous caller’.

    She was then given a simpler one.

    ‘Have you been there every night then?’

    ‘Yes’, said ewai4, ‘every other night’.

    Breaking news, ‘every night’ is not the same as ‘every other night’.

    Not content with our own ‘nationwide’ (read copycat protests) albeeb has been scouring the world for crusties with tents.

    They managed to find some encamped crusties in Podunk USA complaining about a cull of wild (god knows) hogs that had been going on for 20 years before the tents went up last week.

    And another tent small village in the Amazon somewhere where the gov wants to build a dam for a hydroscheme.

    Cue a 5 star holiday masquerading as a ‘special report’ for whichever of albeeb’s ‘top talent’ that fancies it and an open mic slot for another set of sloganing crusties.  

    My money’s on Fiona Bruce for the gig.

       0 likes

    • Bupendra Bhakta says:

      And while I’m on,

      Dear BBC,
      Whatever happened to you old NBF, Loooooooooosy from UKUncut?
      Yours etc
      Bup

         0 likes

  27. Grant says:

    R4 trailer just now for a programme “The State of Israel “.

    Unamed Israeli askes the question ” Is Israel a State with an Army or an Army with a State ? ”

    The same or similar-sounding  Israeli then says someting about Zionism being the centre of the world.

    The programme goes out on Sunday, I think. I shall not be free to listen, but I hope some of you will and report back.  

    Mind you, we could all write the script in advance !!!! 

       0 likes

  28. George R says:

    “NUJ to ballot on no-confidence vote in BBC director general”

    http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/nuj-to-ballot-on-no-confidence-vote-in-bbc-director-general/s2/a546591/

       0 likes

  29. Umbongo says:

    Update on DV’s rather upbeat posting yesterday about Greece.  Unsurprisingly the politicians are behaving like politicians.  Either they’ve been bought or they’re just buckling under the pressure from Brussels (or, more likely, both). http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15568915

    Whatever, it’s good news for the BBC – the euro still lives – just!

       0 likes

  30. Beeboidal says:

    I’m tired of the BBC failing to give the true credentials of their left wing interviewees.  At 1:20 in this video, BBC London News interview a person before the occupation began. A caption tells us that he is ‘Joshua, Activist’. He is in fact Joshua Virasami and he’s a member of Counterfire, an organisation who count another former BBC favourite, Clare Solomon*, as a member . On Counterfire’s website you will find

    Counterfire is an organisation of revolutionary socialists.

    Counterfire members have played a key role in the Coalition of Resistance, Stop the War, and the student revolt.

    So that BBC caption should read ‘ Joshua, Revolutionary Socialist’.

    The BBC never fail to point out that somebody is right wing or far right. They are deceiving their viewers and listeners by failing to point out the leftwingers.

    *Of course, Clare is at occupylsx. In an address to the unwashed anti-capitalists, Clare pointed out that the WiFi at Starbucks is free, which drew a nice round of applause.

       0 likes

    • D B says:

      Might be worth doing a gallery of all these people interviewed by the BBC under the banner of ordinary folk who have suddenly decided to protest. We’ve got an ex-serviceman (fake), a doughty grandmother (49 year-old marketing consultant behind anti-war campaigns), a young mother with her cute toddler (professional Oxfam activist) and now these revolutionary socialists identified by Beeboidal. 
       
      Take screengrabs, people!

         0 likes

  31. pounce_uk says:

    I see the eco nuts at the bBC are heavily promoting this storyabout how the Committee on Climate Change (Note the omission of who COCC are, you know, say leftwing, right wing or even as in this case an independent NGO) are screaming out how emissions from British shipping should be included . Now here is something the bBC doesn’t mention, the size of the British merchant fleet.  
    Here is the link to the worlds merchant fleets, Tell you what you’ll be surprised at actually how small the UK’s fleet is.(16th)  Which is probably why in the COCC article they have to say (something Richard Black fails to mention)  

    “We believe that the UK should consider itself responsible for all of the shipping emissions involved in the transfer of cargos between the UK and its trading partners. “

    And  

    “It is crucial that international shipping emissions are, at some point, included in the UK’s 2050 target to reduce emissions by 80% on 1990 levels. “

       

    Get that a NGO, feels that Britain should take on the CO2 burdens of nations who have much bigger fleets than we do. The UK in 2008 had 254 ships registered at British Ports. China had 1806 , Greece had 805, Singapore had 518. Yet these idiots state we should add their CO2 emissions onto our books, if they visit our shores.  

     

    And the bBC kind of leaves that information out of the article. Gee I wonder why???

       0 likes

  32. George R says:

    Perhaps not as important as ‘fracking’ to BBC-NUJ:  
     
    -no equal rights for men as parents in Britain.  
     
    (A secondary or non-issue to BBC-NUJ?)  
     
    ‘Daily Mail’ front page today:  
     
     
    “Betrayal of the family: Despite all those Tory promises, fathers and grandparents will still be denied the right to see children after a divorce. ” 
      
     
    By Tim Shipman  
     
     
    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2056869/Family-law-Fathers-grandparents-denied-right-children-divorce.html#ixzz1ceTiMBkr
     
     
     
    And:  
     
     
    “Children of divorce are already traumatised. Why does the Government make things worse?”

    (by Christina Odone)  
     
     
     http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/cristinaodone/100115246/children-of-divorce-are-already-traumatised-why-does-the-government-make-things-worse/

       0 likes

  33. As I See It says:

    Poppy burning Facebook fans aged 16 and 17 are referred to in passing by BBC 5 Live news. They live in Coleraine but the Beeb give no hint as to their background or motivation.

    Now if there had been the slightest hint of racism/homophobia/etc etc it would have been a different BBC story.

       0 likes

  34. John Anderson says:

    The Today programme had the second of a series of reports from Mrk Mardell on how Obama is faring.  I am sure I heard Justin Webb introduce it by saying that Obama faces difficulties – and it is “touch and go” whether he will be re-elected next November.

    If Webb did say that,  it shows how pig-ignorant he is,  how uninformed about the US whwre he has recently been the BBC’s editor.  Everyone is saying that Obama is in DEEP trouble,  the polls show it,  even Dem politicians are avoiding him because they do not want to be dragged down with him.  “Touch and go” is utter nonsense,  and it is lying to the BBC’s audiernce.

    Here for example is a senior pollster’s view of Obama’s overall position :

    http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/david-hill/191211-obama-fails-all-viability-tests

       0 likes

    • ap-w says:

      Yes, he did say it was “Touch and Go”. The main thing I took away from Mardell’s piece was that if Obama does have any policy failures it’s because he has to pander to the Republican neanderthals who went and got themselves elected to the “sausage factory” that is Congress, and generally if he is under-appreciated by the electorate it’s because his intellect is so much higher than theirs. I heard a bit of criticism of Obama in the piece from the left via Jesse Jackson – I won’t ask anyone to wager if they had anyone criticising him from the right.

         0 likes

  35. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC the propoganda arm of Islamic terrorism.  
     
    Israeli troops ‘kill two in Gaza’  
    Israeli security forces have killed two people in a clash on the border of the Gaza Strip, local medics say. Palestinian sources said Israeli troops had crossed over into northern Gaza…..Palestinian emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Selmiya told AFP news agency those killed were farmers who were working the land when they were targeted.  
     

       0 likes

    • pounce_uk says:

      According to the bBC the men who were killed were farmers.Here is how Reuters Africa reports the same story.  
      Israeli troops kill two Gaza militants – medics  
      Israeli forces killed two Palestinian militants in a clash along the Israel-Gaza border on Thursday, Palestinian medical officials said.  
      An Israeli military spokesman said soldiers were on patrol on the Israeli side of the border fence when they were fired upon from inside Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas.The soldiers returned fire, the spokesman said, without giving further details. Palestinian medical officials said militants confronted a small Israeli force who had crossed into the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya and a firefight broke out. The two militants were killed by an Israeli helicopter that responded to the fighting, they said  


         0 likes

      • pounce_uk says:

        And here is how the Pals themselves report the story:  
        2 killed in clash on Israel-Gaza border  
        GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli forces killed two people in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, after clashes broke out between forces and unknown gunmen near the border with Israel, medics and witnesses said….Medical officials in the Gaza Strip said Muhammad Abu Halmiya, 22, and Nasser al-Layyan, 23, were killed by an Israeli helicopter after the clashes broke out. Al-Layyan is a member of the Al-Qassam Brigades, a representative from the Hamas armed wing told Ma’an. A Ma’an reporter said Abu Halmiya is a farmer. 

        Yet the so called impartial bBC makes up a story in which the Israelis are made out to be the bad guys.

        The bBC the propoganda arm of Islamic terrorism.  
         


           0 likes

        • Biodegradable says:

          More detail from the Jerusalem Post:

          Palestinians fire on Israelis building Gaza security fence

          Terrorists open fire, shoot mortar shells at Israelis near Kibbutz Zikim; IDF responds; 2 Palestinians reported killed; no Israelis injured.

              Palestinian terrorists on Thursday opened fire on Israelis working on the security fence separating Israel from Gaza. No injuries among Israelis were reported.

          The IDF confirmed that troops on the scene struck the terrorists with return fire near Kibbutz Zikim in the Western Negev. An IDF jeep was damaged in the Palestinian attack, which included mortar shells on Israeli soldiers. IDF tank shells were also fired at the terrorists.
          Medical sources in Gaza reported that two Palestinian were killed.

          Perhaps the BBC’s military experts can explain how farmers managed to damage an IDF jeep?

             0 likes

  36. Teddy Bear says:

    2 good articles in today’s Telegraph about the rising success of UKIP, and why the BBC prefer not to acknowledge it.
    One by Peter Oborne 
    As the landscape starts to shift, Ukip can create political havoc

    The other by Ed West 
    Ukip, the party of England’s reticent majority

       0 likes

    • George R says:

      Yes; supplementary from Ed West:

      “The BBC are only interested in Right-wing parties when they’re unquestionably toxic – such as the BNP – or whether they can be presented as “angry white guys”, like the Tea Party. Because Ukip cannot be be put into either category, they are of little interest to the centre-Left media (and painting Ukip as “hard” Right is a bit difficult when they’re half in favour of legalising marijuana).”

         0 likes

  37. Gerald says:

    Poor maths or a touch of agenda?

    The Have Your Say item on the Unison votes tells the world that a 78% MAJORITY voted to strike. 78% voted to strike but only a 56% majority voted to strike!

       0 likes

  38. pounce_uk says:

    The bBC, reporting on the creeping oppressiveness of a certain religion and half the story.

     

    Could the East End become a strip-club free zone?
    Tower Hamlets wants to be the first council in London to ban lap-dancing clubs and it has just finishing asking its residents if they feel the same…. Independent councillor Rania Khan, who has been leading the campaign to shut the clubs, said: “You see a lot of the city workers coming into the borough because Tower Hamlets is on the city borders. “It’s really unfair on residents, these venues are in the heart of the community.”
    So the bBC reports on how TH may get rid of lap dancing because it is unfair to local residents. How?

    Having never been in a Lap dancing joint, I can’t speak about them. But I’m pretty sure that you can’t see inside from the outside. So how can they be unfair on the residents? Yet this councillor feels that it is.

    But hang on, here’s something the bBC isn’t mentioning is the religious make-up of the vast majority of TH people. (Most of whom are on benefits) Could the real reason for why TH wants rid of these Lap dancing joints is because they don’t fit in with the so called righteous (but bigoted) Islamic mindset. You know, that mindset which see’s gays attacked and vilified in the very same borough, Which see’s Jews attacked and vilified in the very same borough, where teachers are put in hospital for teaching religious education to Muslim and where Christian clergy men (and churches) are physically attacked in public.

    Instead of mentioning any of the above worrying symptoms of the growing Islamic population, the bBC instead blindsides the reader about the human rights of the women who work in such places and the human rights of people who live in the area.

    The bBC the propaganda arm for Sharia law in the UK.

       0 likes

  39. tomfiglio says:

    Don’t know if anyone has mentioned this already, but there’s a good post on Bishop Hill’s blog (again) about Richard Black and the sort of thing that passes for impartial information at the BBC school of “journalism”.

    http://bishophill.squarespace.com/

    The comments show that dissatisfaction with this ridiculous organisation isn’t confined to this site.

       0 likes

  40. George R says:

    James DELINGPOLE’s article: worthy of a thread on its own:

    “Why does the BBC so hate Britain?”

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100115390/why-does-the-bbc-so-hate-britain/

       0 likes

  41. David Preiser (USA) says:

    Here’s a sentence you never thought you’d read: The Obamessiah invoked God to criticize Republicans for passing a religion-based resolution.

    No joke.
    President Obama invoked God on Wednesday as he criticized Congress for voting on commemorative coins and a resolution reaffirming “In God We Trust” as the national motto in all public buildings, public schools and other government institutions.

    “That’s not putting people back to work,” Obama said. “I trust in God, but God wants to see us help ourselves by putting people to work.”

    Obama called on Congress to approve his jobs package.

    “There’s no excuse for 100 percent of Washington Republicans to say no,” Obama said. “That means Republicans in Washington are out of touch with Republican voters.”

    Wait. Who’s out of touch?
    Obama continued: “The American people are with me on this.”

    Uh-huh.  Is that why former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi of Left Francisco voted in support of the non-binding resolution?  And it was a 396-9 slam dunk. Curiously, the one Mohammedan Congressman voted “Present”.  Maybe he didn’t read the part in the Koran where Mohammed says it’s all part of the same deal.

    Personally, I also think it’s a waste of time.  They spent something like a whole day this week debating it.  I mean, it’s not like anyone’s been saying that’s not the motto or something, right?  Oh, wait…..

    BBC then: ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz

    BBC now:  Look – a racist! No, no, a rapist!  Herman Cain’s a rapist or something, right? Politico said somebody told them somebody said something.  So Cain is obviously finished.  After all, Mark Mardell thinks there’s a cover-up.  A bit too close to libel, there.

    See? You already forgot about the President’s blunder, and started frowning at time-wasting by religious Republicans.  It’s not like the BBC was ever going to tell you.

    PS:  Don’t read Mardell’s latest without a couple of adult beverages handy. I hope to have a post up about it tomorrow.

       0 likes

  42. As I See It says:

    BBC News Online country profiles can be quite enlightening – and they provide a snap shot of the narrative, plus some unintentional light relief:

    Take a peek at Greece….

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1009249.stm

    ‘The historical and cultural heritage of Greece continues to resonate throughout the modern Western world….’

    (Aw, bless, how nice, we do hope it all works out for them….)

    Meanwhile there is Israel….

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14628835

    ‘A densely-populated country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, Israel is the only majority Jewish state in the world. It has been locked in conflict….’

    (Grr bad!)

       0 likes